Thrillers Roundup: Vampires, serial killers and a sweeping American epic

By Jon LandSpecial to The Journal

Sunday

May 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM

"Day Shift," by Charlaine Harris. Ace. 320 pages. $27.95.

Sookie Stackhouse is nowhere to be found in the pages of Charlaine Harris’ "Day Shift," but everything that made the HBO series she inspired, "True Blood," ground-breaking remains intact and then some. This quasi spin-off, set appropriately enough in Midnight, Texas, retains the staple elements of the series starting with normal and paranormal creatures living side-by-side.

In the case of Olivia Charity, that means sharing a bed and life with a vampire. It also means Olivia is first on everyone’s speed dial when the strange becomes deadly, which is exactly what happens when psychic Manfred Bernardo comes calling with a tale of murderous hauntings afoot in the creepiest hotel this side of The Overlook from Stephen King’s "The Shining."

What sets both the book and Olivia apart is that her motivation for helping Bernardo sort through the metaphysical morass is to keep Midnight safe from outsiders so it’s peculiar meshing of creatures from both worlds can continue to coexist without interference.

"Day Shift" is wondrously gothic, exchanging a clever, dark elegance for Sookie’s more blood-soaked adventures. A tour de force of both form and function.

"I, Ripper," by Stephen Hunter. Simon & Schuster. 320 pages. $27.99.

To call Stephen Hunter’s chillingly effective "I, Ripper" a passion project would be an understatement. Indeed, his own note penned to advance readers like yours truly professes a fascination for Jack the Ripper that preceded the creation of his Marine master sniper hero, the iconic Bob Lee Swagger.

No Swagger — neither Bob, his illegitimate son Ray, or stalwart father Earl — is present in a book set amid the horse-drawn carriages clacking through the fog of Victorian London, of course. But that doesn’t preclude Hunter from fashioning a riveting narrative penned in large part from the killer’s POV.

We’re also treated to alternating chapters featuring a journalist named Horn, who finds himself both chronicling and investigating Jack’s lurid and exquisitely well-described kills. Kind of like "Silence of the Lambs" told with Hannibal Lecter chapters intertwined with Clarice Starling’s first-person ramblings of bringing down Buffalo Bill.

The thoroughness of the research and wondrous recreations of the gas-lit period itself almost makes us forget we’re reading fiction. Almost, because with Hunter we’re in the hands of a master storyteller whose aim is just as sharp as Bob Lee’s himself in bringing us face-to-face with history’s most notorious serial killer.

"The Fall," by John Lescroart. Atria. 320 pages. $26.99.

I’ve read just about all of John Lescroart’s outstanding legal thrillers featuring Dismas Hardy. But there’s something special about "The Fall" that made me think of Barry Reed’s classic "The Verdict," made into an equally classic film starring Paul Newman.

A younger Newman might’ve been perfect to play Dismas, but the focus turns here to his daughter Rebecca, who’s now part of his law firm and, for a rites of passage, finds herself trying a murder case. The accused is (apparently) selfless and noble middle-school teacher Greg Treadway, who has a penchant for helping troubled teens. All well and good until one of those teens plunges to her death and the police suspect she may have been pushed by the very advocate trying to get her on the straight and narrow.

Treadway’s hapless naiveté recalls, perhaps purposefully, the famed Atticus Finch’s doomed client Tom Robinson. A lot has changed, of course, since "To Kill A Mockingbird," though not the imperfect way in which the wheels of justice turn. It’s left to Dismas and especially Rebecca, as both advocate and investigator, to spin them back in the right direction. The result is a courtroom thriller extraordinaire that matches the best of John Grisham and Scott Turow.

"People of the Songtrail: A Novel of North America's Forgotten Past," by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear. Forge. 352 pages. $25.99.

Nobody writes like James Michener anymore except, maybe, Kathleen and Michael Gear, who’ve fashioned their most broad and ambitious tale ever with "People of the Songtrail."

This sweeping epic takes us back to the Vikings landing in North America 500 years before Columbus was even born. Such quests are always about chasing freedom, the irony being the pursuit of that by the Vikings under Tholak the Lawspeaker seems likely to collide with the freedom already enjoyed by the Native Americans under Chief Baisut.

Like Michener, details down to the clothing, food and weapons (of course) are spot on, as is the inevitable clash of cultures that makes for the perfect parable for our xenophobic times. The Gears get their points across in the fabric of a brilliantly told tale that manages to master history and storytelling in the same pen stroke.

Jon Land (jonlandauthor@aol.com) has published many thrillers and lives in Providence.

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